How state, local government need to build a cyber resilience strategy for email

As state and local government agencies fight against an onslaught of threats like ransomware and phishing, a standard cybersecurity strategic plan isn’t enough.

Those threats are bombarding agencies at an unprecedented rate — and a good chunk of them are coming at what one county chief information security officer calls “the Achilles’ heel” of any system: email.

“It’s users clicking on links, it’s the fact that those bad emails get to us,” said Michael Dent, CISO for Fairfax County, Virginia. “We’ve got to be able to stop that.”